Voter registration: Nine facts for National Voter Registration Day

A clipboard with Michigan Voter Registration Applications gets filled out for a Western Michigan University student during the Rock the Vote campaign outside of the Bernhard Center in Kalamazoo, Mich., on Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/The Kalamazoo Gazette, Matt Gade) ALL LOCAL TV OUT; LOCAL TV INTERNET OUT

Registration Day: What you need to know about voter registration

Storified by Digital First Media · Tue, Sep 25 2012 07:06:33

Tuesday, Sept. 25, is National Voter Registration Day, a single day of action led by a group of nonprofits to help register as many voters as possible. Here are some facts about voter registration in the U.S. today.

In 13 states, you can register to vote online.

Arizona led the way in 2002 with an online voter registration program. Today, over 70 percent of voter registrations in that state were done online. A dozen other states followed suit, including California, Colorado, New York and Ohio.

But many state websites need improvement.

A report by the Pew Center found that 12 state election websites, including Pennsylvania, New York and Texas, needed serious work and 29 states, including D.C., were just average. Only 10 state sites were rated “good.”

You can also register through a Netflix-like service.

One startup aims to make it easier to register to vote by allowing users to fill out a form online. TurboVote then mails you an official document and a pre-printed envelope. All you have to do is sign it and drop it in the mail.

In eight states, you can register on Election Day.

Wisconsin has allowed voters to register on Election Day since 1971. In recent years, a number of other states have followed suit. California and Connecticut passed laws this year that will not be implemented in time for this November’s elections.